Well the Conspiracy Theories party came and went, with a decent amount of participation! Thanks everyone for making the time on a relatively short notice.

Now is the time to discuss what you liked and disliked about the contest, especially the individual maps. This one was highly experimental, with half of the maps having some sort of script running in the background. Or, well, foreground in many cases. That does mean some of the maps weren't perfectly playable, so there may be some edits on the way. I will be sure to announce new versions of maps as authors submit new versions.

Authors are also free to use the suggestions that will likely arise in this thread.

This discussion thread will remain open for the foreseeable future, and VOTING will start promptly on Monday, March 26th. Stay tuned!

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For your play testing convenience, the password for level changing in the contest server is:

1804

Please be reasonable while using it. If there is more than one person on the server (i.e. more than just you), don't swap levels out from under people.

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For your convenience: The list of maps. My computer's screenshots are all coming out black, so I guess I won't include pictures!

2 Minutes to Midnight -- 2-Team RetrieveCons: This map is everything wrong with retrieve maps. All the worst mechanics: too many flags, too little space, too little innovation, and far too hard to get to the actual flags with all those bottle necks. Not really sure what conspiracy theory this is. A generic doomsday device I guess? I miss the reference.Pros: The teleporters with the test items are positively genius. Incredibly useful for getting ahead of the bottleneck (not useful enough on this particular map, since the bottleneck is so large that you will run out of shield just flying out it) but still. Little_apple kept replacing the testitem though, and the time to get back was far too long for it to be useful. I would kill him, open it, and then be out of energy for the teleporter- And since he spawns literally right there, I either go in and die, or sit there and die.Recommends: A long third back passageway into the bases. Shorter bottlenecks. One less flag.

Homosexual Anura Speed Dating -- FFA RabbitCons: Why would you do this. How is this a conspiracy. Pros: The health bars are a different color, so that's neat. Recommendations: Kind of cramped, would be fun with like less than four players maybe. So I'd recommend setting a maxplayers. The walls aren't innovative for more than that to be anything more than a kill box but with a rabbit flag.

Deepwater Horizon -- 2-Team Nexuscons: Unfortunately small.A ctually references something intelligible, but I am not sure how the oil spill was a conspiracy. Maybe I am just ignorant of conspiracies?pros: Well designed, I like the way the oil slick flashes when anyone scores (even though that was probably unintentional), good art, good level "flow".recommend: I would like just one more passageway on both sides, so that there was more of a feel of "options".

Jaws But With Penguins -- 1-Team Corecons: Too many bots, a bit too difficult. pros: Noisy! It feels crazy and hysterical, just like real life penguin conspiracy attacks are. I love the name, I love the concept, I love the flow of the walls.recommend: It would be easy to spawn bots proportional to how many players are actually in the match; as it stands its kind of hard to stand a chance.

Jeff the Penguin -- FFA Bitmatchcons: Levelcontroller spam makes it kind of hard to hear anyone talkpros: Pengu? Pengu.recommend: Another team for more fleshed out penguin colors maybe? Idk

RUSSIA -- 2-Team Retrievecons: Too many resource items! The script is a bit loud. Kinda drowns out the level. Also I think the levelgen is a bit confusing.pros: Well designed, good theme, probably the best gameplay of the maps this round. If the death effect was removed.recommend: Tone down the script, Maybe fewer repairables.

Pleiades is Skynet -- 9-Team Corecons: Kind of hard to know what's going on since its so big. Nine teams is a bit much.pros: I'm honored to be a team. Kind of fun cores design and stuff.Recommend: Fewer teams? Idk its a gimmick map gimmicks gonna gimmick

Timecube -- FFA RabbitCons: Literally none.Pros: We have not seen a level of this calibur since airlock. Everything about this map is flawless. It has my vote, and probably my vote for the next few contests, too. The levelgen spam is perfect, the random effects are perfect, the clock shifting is perfect, it fits the conspiracy perfectly. Its a blast to play, because the craziness is part of the gameplay. It also integrates well; If someone is hiding with the carrot, just kill the core and EVERYONE DIES and that will flush that rabbit out!Recommends: I am not worthy to make a recommendation for this level at this time.

Bitfighter 020 -- 2-Team CTFcons: I don't think there is anything wrong with this map. pros: Minimalist but still fun. I don't want to say "well designed" (I mean its just spybug bricks) but it is certainly very elegant, and pretty fun too. Hope I'm not missing anything about the levelgen. The sides of the map warp you and the hexagons make a hexagon which is cool.recommend: Don't ever let bobdaduck figure out how you did this script. Bury it in your backyard and forget about it.

D.B.Cooper -- FFA NexusA plane looking map (pun intended). Hostile turrets keep you moving. The core protecting the nexus has too much health and makes it likely a flag hoarder will win right as it's destroyed.

Deepwater Horizon -- 2-Team NexusGood looking map and funny conspiracy. I like the fast based strategy required. A little cramped but cozy.

Jaws But With Penguins -- 1-Team CoreThese penguins are killer. Tough map to win, I suspect the strategy is to preemptively strike the penguins somehow? I like the layout of the map.

Jeff the Penguin -- FFA BitmatchSimple map with a monosyllabic levelgen. Seems like a good intermission or waiting room map.

RUSSIA -- 2-Team RetrieveThis is an interesting map with lots of ins and outs. I'm not sure I found all the things the levelgen is supposed to do, but the energy bonus on death is a nice touch. 4 flags for a retrieve is really hard (impossible?), but I guess engineer could tip the balance!

Pleiades is Skynet -- 9-Team CoreI like the look of this map. Pretty impressive sticking so many maps together. I think it's a little on the big side and it's tough to tell what the levelgen is supposed to do. The teams names are hilarious.

Timecube -- FFA RabbitThis map made me rethink everything I know about the nature of the universe.

Just as an aside, how the flying knrl do neither of you understand how Homosexual Anura Speed Dating is conspiracy-related when I even put "Alex Jones references" in the short description? A quick Google search is not difficult. The dude is notorious for being a propagator of various conspiracy theories; he's even mentioned six times on the Wikipedia list of conspiracy theories.

That aside...

2 Minutes to Midnight -- 2-Team RetrieveI adore the graphics but the gameplay is pretty bad. I think three flags are OK, especially given the short time limit––so if it does end up dragging, it's over with zero touchdowns sooner rather than later––but it's bottleneck-y and campy as knrl. Needs less turrets probably, too.

Homosexual Anura Speed Dating -- FFA RabbitI can't not love this because it's apparently the next thing in the series of speed dating maps. It's standard FFA Rabbit, plays OK. I would actually suggest something of a random or silly element if you really want it to be like the speed dating maps, but it still fits alongside them nicely enough!

D.B.Cooper -- FFA NexusIt's Gelato Pt. II. It plays pretty decently but I think it needs less teleporters. If someone is going to be able to hide and play it safe, they need to be threatened with the possibility of being cornered. With those teleporters on the wings, there is no threat of that. Or else you could make the teleporter delay virtually nonexistent so people can give chase faster, maybe.

Deepwater Horizon -- 2-Team NexusThis map plays shockingly well for how bottle-necky it is. Good job.

Jaws But With Penguins -- 1-Team CoreAn awesome survival map. I love it, good work. The way the penguins actually venture slowly into the facility from the outside is especially neat and thematically appropriate. It may not be a "conspiracy theory" in the modern sense, but it is in the classical sense––a simple plot to murder someone(s), a la Julius Caesar.

Jeff the Penguin -- FFA Bitmatch"Pengu? Pengu!" Congrats on creating a new meme. Bonus points if you go back and forth at the top of the heart and spam the chat mercilessly.

RUSSIA -- 2-Team RetrieveThis is my least favorite map of the competition. It's too vast, too random, too impossible to memorize. I just couldn't get a good grasp of what was going on. Thematically it's awesome, I love the "rigged" votes of either side, i.e. the team flags that are automatic points toward a touchdown.

Pleiades is Skynet -- 9-Team CoreThis would be real neat if multiple-team core maps actually worked––you know, like people get cycled off of teams that have been eliminated. (That's a hint, developers) It'd also be neat if this map weren't plagiaristic as all hell and required next to zero skill, so that's a thing. I did appreciate that the cores had differing amounts of health based on fortifications and number of cores, so thanks for not screwing that up.

Timecube -- FFA RabbitThis one takes the cake on scripting ability, I think. I actually really love the concept––you can either engage in the main battle like your usual Rabbit game, or if you find yourself unable to compete, mess with the ongoing battle by destroying the core in the center and triggering massive death and destruction. This is a great solution to the usual dilemma of Rabbit wherein you become disengaged in the fight and can't find a way to re-enter it effectively.

Bitfighter 020 -- 2-Team CTFThis is a zany bit of randomized CTF fun. I dig it. The script is also *magical,* and I can only imagine the possibilities it creates. Forcing a loadout is absolutely awesome and I'm stealing this script, OK?

2 Minutes to Midnight -- 2-Team RetrieveIn an era of memes and novelties, it's nice to play a somewhat classic competitive retrieve. Don't take the campiness here as a downside -- it's perfect for our 3v3 and 4v4 games as it forces the players to fight each other.

Homosexual Anura Speed Dating -- FFA RabbitSolid all-around rabbit map. Played pretty well when we gave it a few goes. Wish there was a tad more things to do, but all in all a solid rabbit.

D.B.Cooper -- FFA NexusAhh now I get it! Nice idea. Flags harvesting is an interesting idea but in practice there's not really a sense of urgency, so not much to do for five minutes. Maybe if the core would disappear for ten seconds at the end of every minute or something.

Deepwater Horizon -- 2-Team NexusI like this one a lot, very creative design and team nexus are always fun to play. Plenty of strategy involved in this real tight, small map.

Jaws But With Penguins -- 1-Team CoreDope name! Kind of a chaotic, crazy map. Needs to be a bit easier to win for the humans but I could also see this being fun if it were like 2 minutes long.

RUSSIA -- 2-Team RetrieveThis is really interesting. Flags confused me for a bit at first but I figured it out. Lots of ways to interpret the name I think. My only suggestion is to downsize it a bit as it's pretty large.

Pleiades is Skynet -- 9-Team CoreSpeaking of downsizing things... we're not exactly having 10v10 games anymore! I do like the idea of asymmetrical bases, as well as getting to choose whether to defend or attack.

Timecube -- FFA RabbitWhat a creative map! A bit too chaotic for my tastes, but clearly a lot of time spent making this, so bravo.

The two things that stood out to me in this crop were I love the "borrowed levels" in Pleiades Is Skynet, and I kind of liked the way the level that inserted Energy Items after killing a player worked. I'm wondering if this should be added to the base game?

sky_lark wrote:What level inserted energy items after a player's death? I didn't see that level. Maybe a broken script?

That was Russia.

I actually recycled a script that I made for an "arena" server I used to run; All maps on the server were free for all gametypes, and the server featured a global script which caused players to drop health packs on death. I thought Russia might be more interesting with an energy item and a resource item that disappeared quickly; So that you can engineer immediately after battle, but to engineer on the map you have to fight with engineer. Didn't work out, the time we ran it the script had a bug where it wasn't deleting the resource items... Ever. So that made the level cramped and chaotic, when it was supposed to be subtle and strategic.